TODAY IN MILITARY HISTORY
31 October
◆1803 US Frigate 'Philadelphia' grounds off Tripoli, & is taken by the Barbary pirates.
◆1803 Congress ratified the purchase of the entire Louisiana area in North America, which added territory to the United States for 13 subsequent states.
◆1808 Battle of Durango, Spain.
◆1808 Battle of Pan Corbo: The French defeat the Spanish.
◆1861 Citing failing health, General Winfield Scott, commander of the Union forces, retires from service.
◆1918 In the worst global epidemic of the century, influenza (an acute, contagious respiratory viral infection) had been spreading around the world since May. Before it ended in 1919 some 20 million people were killed worldwide, about twice as many as World War I, with about 500-600,000 of them in the US. October was the deadliest month and about 195,000 died with 21,000 dead the 1st week. It was estimated that 20-40 million people died worldwide.
◆1922 Mussolini was made prime minister of Italy. He centralized all power in himself as leader of the Fascist party and attempted to create an Italian empire, ultimately in alliance with Hitler's Germany.
◆1941 The U.S. Navy destroyer "Reuben James" was torpedoed by a German U-boat off Iceland, killing 115, even though the United States had not yet entered World War II.
◆1943 LT Hugh D. O'Neill of VF(N)-75 destroys a Japanese aircraft during night attack off Vella Lavella in first kill by a radar-equipped night fighter of the Pacific Fleet.
◆1943 The British 10th Corps (part of the US 5th Army) captures Teano in attacks toward Monte Santa Croce. Meanwhile, the US 6th Corps attacks Monte Massico.
◆1950 The Chinese launched a strong attack on Eighth Army at Unsan.
◆1951 Eighteen of the 67 Air Guard squadrons mobilized in 1950-1951 during the Korean War are returned to state control on this date. Only one of the 18, the 116th Fighter Squadron from Moses Lake Air Force Base, WA, served overseas during this period. Issued new F-86A Sabre jets the 116th was stationed at the Royal Air Force base at Manston, England as part of the reinforcement of NATO forces put in place to discourage a Soviet attack in Europe. The six squadrons that actually deployed and fought in Korea were released in July 1952. The last flying units of the Air Guard serving on active duty during this period were finally released on December 31, 1952.
◆1952 The United States exploded the first hydrogen bomb at Eniwetok Atoll in the Pacific. The first H-bomb ever 'Mike' was exploded at 7.15 am local time on November 1st 1952. The mushroom cloud was 8 miles across and 27 miles high. The canopy was 100 miles wide. Radioactive mud fell out of the sky followed by heavy rain. 80 million tons of earth was vaporised. Mike was the first ever megaton yeild explosion.
◆1955 Lewis B. "Chesty" Puller, who earned five Navy Crosses (and 1 Army Distinguished Service Cross), retired as a Lieutenant General.
◆1956 President Dwight D. Eisenhower praised the promise by Moscow made the previous day of major concessions to Hungarians in revolt as "the dawning of a new day" in Eastern Europe. Anti-government demonstrations in Budapest a week earlier had forced a reshuffling of the Hungarian government and demands that the new government denounce the Warsaw Pact and seek liberation from Soviet domination.
◆1956 Rear Admiral G.J. Dufek became the first person to land an airplane at the South Pole.Navy men land in R4D Skytrain on the ice at the South Pole. RADM George Dufek, CAPT Douglas Cordiner, CAPT William Hawkes, LCDR Conrad Shinn, LT John Swadener, AD2 J. P. Strider and AD2 William Cumbie are the first men to stand on the South Pole since Captain Robert F. Scott in 1912.
◆1956 USS Burdo (APD-133) and USS Harlan R. Dickson (DD-708) evacuate 166 persons from Haifa, Israel due to the fighting between Egypt and Israel.
◆1959 A former U.S. Marine from Fort Worth, Texas, Lee Harvey Oswald, announced in Moscow that he would never return to the United States.
◆1961 End of Lighter than Air in U.S. Navy with disestablishment of Fleet Airship Wing One and ZP-1 and ZP-3, the last operating units in LTA branch of Naval Aviation, at Lakehurst, New Jersey.
◆1968 President Johnson announces bombing halt. In a televised address to the nation five days before the presidential election, President Lyndon Johnson announces that on the basis of developments in the Paris peace negotiations, he has ordered the complete cessation of "all air, naval, and artillery bombardment of North Vietnam."
◆1971 Saigon began the release of 1,938 Hanoi POW’s.
◆1984 The tanker Puerto Rican exploded outside of San Francisco Bay. Coast Guard units responded.
◆1997 The US announced a plan to increase spending over the next decade to $1 billion per year to clear the world of land mines that threaten civilian populations by 2010.
◆1998 The US and Israel signed a strategic cooperation agreement to protect the Jewish state from ballistic missiles. The Arrow “anti¬tactical ballistic missile” program is one of the centerpieces of the U.S.-Israel strategic relationship. It is one of the most advanced missile defense systems currently in existence. The Arrow will offer Israel an essential capability against Scud-type ballistic missiles, and provides the U.S. with key research and technology for other “theater missile defense” programs.